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JOHN DEERE CLASSIC MEDIA DAY

May 19, 2008

CLAIR PETERSON: We've got a very nice crowd here. Thanks to everyone who has carved out this day for us. We are very, very fortunate, very, very privileged to have Jonathan Byrd, our '07 champion here. We'll hear from him in a little bit.
Before we go through the choreographed progression of events here, I just want to introduce Paul Grogan in the back of the room and Ian Nichol from the TCP at Deere Run. They're raising their hands right there.
Paul and Ian have oversaw -- Paul obviously more so -- but right after tournament last year, every one of the bunkers has been redone, all the sand removed, all the drainage redone. New sand put in. When you play out there today, I think there may be still one hole, No. 1, and maybe one other bunker on No. 4, you'll be able to see up close and personal. We wanted to let you see the substrata. You can see everything that's happening.
But it's a very exciting, very important upgrade to the golf course. And a big deal for tournament week, certainly. So with that, I will introduce our '08 chairman. He has latched onto the "It's all great in '08" concept, bumper stickers. Everything. Decker Ploehn is the '08 chairman.
Decker, why don't you say a few words?
(Applause)
DECKER PLOEHN: Thank you, Clair. For those of you looking around the room, if you'll look in the back there's probably about 35 board members and five employees, and there's over 1500 volunteers that make all of this happen.
And the really neat thing for me as tournament chairman is to develop the friendships with all those folks, because it's made my life a lot nicer and neater to have them.
And one of the neat experiences of going through the chairs and being part of the committees is you get to meet all those people. But in my case I got to meet Jonathan about five years ago and have watched his career progress very nicely. And I've got to see him and his wife come here a couple of years ago, and Jackson was born. Got to see Jackson drive a Gator and that was pretty cool. He told us this morning when we were having breakfast that Jackson, when he goes to the garage, says "Beep beep, beep beep," to get him to drive the Gator that he won around the neighborhood.
So those kinds of experiences I never would have had as not being a volunteer, is where it all started. And so one of the messages that I'd like to convey to all the folks that might be watching is that they can go to our website, johndeereclassic.com and become a volunteer and have the great experience of meeting usually taller people, but all good people.
Not you, Divot, sorry. And developing some great friendships and giving to a very worthy cause and having a great time doing it and giving back to our 600 charities and the hundreds of thousands of people that live here. And it's been great fun for me to do that.
I'm going to enjoy a great year and it's going to be great in '08, and we're delighted that Jonathan came back to visit with us and share the Jackson story.
So at any rate I'm going to give it back to Clair and thank John for coming.
(Applause)
CLAIR PETERSON: To give a few overview comments, I guess, about this year. We always try to have a new story to tell every year. You always try to improve your product. Our biggest story this year, and Jonathan can verify, we talked a little bit about it last night at the airport, is our jet service to the British Open.
We have, with John Deere's help, chartered a 767 100-seat all first class aircraft that will be parked at the Quad City Airport Sunday night, with the ability to take, non-stop, players right to Manchester, England, so they're ready at 8:00 a.m. the next morning to try to win the British Open.
It's a big deal. Obviously our date and our location have made it difficult for players to get to the British Open. We had eight players last year that played here and made the trip over. Our expectation is that we'll at least double that this year.
The key points to the offer is that a player has automatically three seats in his name that he can use as he sees fit. If his wife is going over, and obviously the caddies will be an important part of the team going over. Agents may be going over. But there are three seats guaranteed.
Again, it's a 100-seat aircraft. And then at the end of June, when we have an idea how many players will be taking advantage of the offer, June 30th there's a qualifier in Michigan to identify, I think, about 12 players who, if they haven't already become exempt, will become exempt to the British. So that will be a new group that will certainly want to come our way, we feel.
But anyway, we've been talking to players about it. And you all have seen some previous press releases. You have some information today in press kits about what difference that has made in our field.
We have players in categories now committing early now, where before it was always if I get in the British Open I might not be able to come. And Jonathan's agent Mack Barnhart said it like we'd like to say it, if you're going to the British, now you need to be at the John Deere, because this is the best way to get to the British Open. You've got Major championship winners Zach Johnson, Todd Hamilton, Sean McCall, Rich Boehm, Tom Layman, all in the field.
You've got Presidents Cup, Ryder Cup, veterans, Woody Austin. Kenny Perry. Lucas Glover. Kirk Triplett.
I better look at my notes. Chris DiMarco. Jerry Kelly. Brett Wetterich. Winners this year. J.B. Holmes, Sean O'Hair, Johnson Wagner, Boo Weekley. Brian Gay. Ryuji Imada who just won yesterday. Although Jonathan made him work for it pretty hard.
And then guys like Jeff Quinney, Heath Slocum, Bubba Watson, Jason Gore and Pat Perez. It's really a terrific list of players two months out that we know are going to be here.
It says everything, in our opinion, about what's been happening here. The golf course is one of the great tests on tour as far as being fair, as far as being traditional.
If you play well, you've got a chance to win. It doesn't favor any particular player. The community, Jonathan and I talked a little bit about it, players understand. They see a golf course full of people, what it means to this area to have a PGA TOUR event. 38 years later there aren't too many areas of 375,000 people that still have PGA TOUR events. But we're very proud of the fact we still have the TOUR stopping here during the regular season, the FedExCup season.
So it is having a positive effect. We feel as if going forward -- there are many players that don't commit even if they know they're coming until the last 30 days or the last two weeks or sometimes the last week. And we feel that we have only improvements coming to the commitment list as time goes on. But we're very, very excited. And then we're really excited, quite honestly, about our sponsor exemption story.
We have a great history here of giving players a chance to play maybe for the first time in a PGA TOUR event and developing those relationships that have an impact on their willingness or their wanting to come back. Zach is a great example. Lucas Glover is an exemption of ours from years past. Camilo Villegas is an exemption. When I talk to Camilo, he still talks about this is where I won my first check. I still have that check from the John Deere Classic.
So this year we've got, again, some really exciting players in that category, we feel. Our hometown hero, if you will, Brady Schnell, whose dream, just like Jonathan and Zach's and other young players, is to some day play on the PGA TOUR. He played here last year for the first time as a professional and made the cut.
It just so happens that his dad, Curt Schnell, one of the great golfers in town, approaching his 50th birthday now, is also going to be playing as section champion. So Curt caddied for Brady last year. Now they're going to be competing against each other. So there will probably be some friendly side bets inside the Schnell family as to who wins.
Philip Francies, UCLA freshman this year who also was with us last year, is going to be back. We felt like we really got to know Philip well last year. And he conducted himself wonderfully. And we wanted to invite him back.
Jamie Lovemark, one of the top amateurs in the college golf world right now, is going to be here. And then a really neat story, we feel, regional story, Jason Knutzen, who graduated from Iowa State, actually played golf against Zach back in the days when they were in college, has been playing on the Asian Tour, has won twice on the Asian Tour, and he's going to be our fourth unrestricted exemption.
There will be probably a couple more to add to that list as time goes on. We historically get a couple unrestricted exemptions back if all the Q school and the nationwide guys get in, and they normally do.
But from an excitement standpoint, you know we really feel good about Jonathan defending this year against a very, very strong field. So as it relates to that, Jonathan -- and Decker mentioned it -- is such a great champion. A good friend of ours.
He first came on TOUR in 2002 which was actually the year I became tournament director. So I feel a bit of a kinship. My first recruiting trip was to the Buick Challenge in Georgia, an event that Jonathan won in his 32nd start as PGA TOUR professional. So quite an accomplishment there.
He finished, a lot of you probably remember, in '03 when Vijay won. He was in Vijay's group on that final day, and finished, tied for second. And then, of course, he's been here, I think, every year except for maybe one since '02. He's a great John Deere guy. He loves John Deere. My favorite recollection from last year was recruiting at the Travelers Championship and I had just come back from the golf course.
I had my fully branded outfit on, nice John Deere stuff. Get on the elevator, and there's Jonathan and Amanda and his son Jackson on the elevator. I said hey, how is it going? It's great. And Jackson just broke out into this huge grin looking at me.
And I just felt great. I thought, Jonathan, look it, he really likes me. Jonathan goes, no, he just really likes that green John Deere hat. (Laughter) So I knew right then there's another generation of Byrds coming our way that have a great affinity to John Deere.
So with that, I'm going to let Jonathan, the main reason why we're all here, take the podium. And Jonathan, thanks again for being here.
(Applause)
JONATHAN BYRD: As we were talking about Jackson, in my family, we have a great tradition when we have people come stay with us. And we wake up the next morning. We have breakfast. But right after breakfast, we all get in the Gator and we rip it around the neighborhood.
And I had Ben Crane and his wife and their little daughter. And this past week, between TCP and Atlanta, and we went out in our pajamas and his little girl is about just over, about a year and a half and Jackson's almost two. Put them in our laps and about 30 miles an hour around the neighborhood. We've gotten great use out of our Gator. Like Clair was saying, my son comes outside and first thing he says is "Beep beep, beep beep." Or he's in the kitchen saying the same thing because he wants to go ride in the Gator. So that's been a lot of fun.
I've really enjoyed being the John Deere Classic champion, representing such an awesome brand, and what I think is a fantastic event on Tour. And I think Clair and Decker do an amazing job with this event. I see them throughout the season. At other tournaments, they have a wonderful reputation among the players and among caddies and among agents. I think a lot of players would consider these guys more than just tournament directors and acquaintances, they consider these guys friends, I certainly do, for how they treat us, and how they understand what our job is like and making our schedules, how tough it is. And they've always treated me with great respect and have been very understanding.
I just want to say it's wonderful to be back here. I'm just flooded with some great emotion, great memories of being here almost a year ago and winning this tournament. And he just -- every TOUR event, if you get to win one, this is my third event, you have great memories. I have great memories of this tournament every year I've played here, because I've usually always played well.
But I can remember sitting in this room after winning the tournament and I think Decker poured me a beer right over there and we had a celebration beer, and we're sitting there on the phone trying to figure out how in the world I'm going to get to the British Open with no passport.
And really it was quite odd, because I didn't really get to sit and enjoy just relaxing and enjoying the victory, because there were so many things flooding through my mind of is my wife going to be able to go? You know, who is going? How are we going to get there? I could not get in touch with my agent on the phone, because he was en route to the British at the moment.
They obviously knew I won and knew I was going to need their help. But there were so many things that I had never had to deal with that were happening at that moment. And all the while I was trying to enjoy the fact that I just won my third PGA TOUR event and won it in great fashion.
But just as I recall, we figured things out. I got in touch with my agent. The John Deere people were awesome to get my wife and my family home that night quickly. And I had a flight out the next morning and I headed to the British Open.
And it was a really special day on Sunday here last year. I played some -- I finished really strong. Played some great golf. It came right down to the last -- I made a great par on the last hole to win the tournament.
And I always enjoy thinking back on that day. Many times when I start struggling and I stop playing well, I pop that DVD in and I watch the final round and get some good vibes going and get some good memories going, that always helps.
But going forward, as you talk about the field, I'm getting a little nervous over here. Is this going to be -- (Laughter) It's going to be a more difficult task this year to win this event with the field that Clair just told you guys about.
With all those veteran guys that are going to come this year, the college guys. I've seen Jamie Lovemark play and he is a fantastic player. It's going to be a great field this year. It's definitely probably going to be the best field we ever had at the John Deere Classic.
And just have an amazing product here with this golf course and with this event, I think guys are going to start to notice this event more and come play. And it's going to get better and better.
And I think the addition to the product, to the tournament of having this flight to the British Open, is going to have a tremendous influence on guys coming. Like Clair was saying, it's the best way to get to the British. I got over there last year. I didn't get there until Tuesday morning, and I was amazed at how many guys lost their luggage and didn't get it until Thursday morning.
One guy, Pat Perez, didn't have his clubs for his first round of the British Open. And he had to put a set together. A couple guys didn't get it until Wednesday night.
I remember watching Mark Calcavecchia out there in rain pants, borrowed clubs, and a T-shirt, a golf shirt that was too big. I guess a triple XL for him, (Laughter) that he bought in the media, in the merchandise tent. And I just couldn't imagine being in a Major not having your stuff. Thankfully I got mine. But that was just a handful of guys that would just pay a bunch to have a private flight over on that kind of plane over to the tournament.
So I'm excited about it. I think a lot of other players are. And other than that, I'm excited to come back. And is it two months? I'm excited to come back and have the opportunity to defend and play this great course and play this great event.
I know my family is excited to come back and go to the Big Dig and get to experience all the fun things we get to experience at this event. I just thank you for having me today.
(Applause)
CLAIR PETERSON: Questions?

Q. Just for clarification, how did you get your passport last year?
JONATHAN BYRD: I flew home.

Q. You went home?
JONATHAN BYRD: Which was nice. Because the clothes I needed for the John Deere Classic didn't really work for the British Open. I needed some rain gear. I needed some sweaters. I needed to kind of gather my thoughts a little bit.
So John Deere was great. They flew us home privately. It was awesome.

Q. Did you say last year that you didn't bring a passport because, just what was it? You weren't confident?
JONATHAN BYRD: My game wasn't very good. I think I missed the previous three or four cuts leading up to the John Deere Classic. I was supposed to go to a British Open qualifying site a couple of weeks prior. My caddie and I, about two weeks, three weeks before John Deere, two weeks, we just sat down. We said we gotta get some confidence. Let's don't go to this qualifier. We felt like the worst thing that could happen is if I qualified because then I went over to the British, played Carnoustie, a really hard golf course. If my game wasn't good I might miss the cut and not get anything going in the right direction for the end of the year.
We decided to bag the qualifier, come here, play here, Milwaukee and those events afterwards, and just try to get some rounds in and build some confidence.
I still missed some cuts the and I came here and felt like I figured a couple things out. But I didn't bring my passport because I was like I really didn't think I had any chance to win at that point. My confidence was kind of low.
But I came here working hard and figured a couple of things out and got in contention and won. So it was a good problem to have, to have to go home and get your passport and go to the British Open, though.

Q. How is your confidence this year? You seem to be off to a -- I think you met your top 25s already for last year at this point in time. Are you a little more consistent than you were a year ago?
JONATHAN BYRD: I'm much more consistent. I've gotten contention quite a bit this year, which is my focus for this season. I feel like I want to get in contention more often. And I did early in the year. I did in Phoenix. I did at Mercedes, and I did -- I can't remember right now -- but I think it's been about at least four times I've had a chance to win going into Sunday.
And I've been pleased with that. I haven't played well. I haven't been that pleased with how I've played on the weekends and finished tournaments, which the more experience I get the better I'll do. But this past week I was leading the golf tournament about three shots going into Saturday and kind of struggled on the weekend. But was able to finish off yesterday's round with Neal and finished fourth alone and it turned into a good week for me.
So I'm pleased with how the year's going. I feel like my game is very good. I'm more consistent, driving the ball better. And I feel very confident.

Q. You've done that against odds. Your father's problems are well known. How is he doing, first of all? And how have you managed to focus on the golf course with that situation?
JONATHAN BYRD: Well, we were at a Clemson football game this fall and my dad had a seizure at halftime and thought he had a heart attack and went to the hospital. They found out he had a brain tumor about the size of a plum and found out a couple of days later, after a very successful surgery, that it was a Stage 4 cancer glioblastoma multiform, which is a bad thing. It was very scary for my family but also very good in the sense that when you get everything, when everything is a mess, all that's left is complete dependence upon God.
And that's a good place to be. And so my family's doing great. My dad right now is doing fantastic. He went through six weeks of chemotherapy and radiation, and now he's just doing different treatments right now. But he went to Atlanta, the nine-mile walk around the golf course this past week and went to the Masters and he almost walked every hole, and the doctors are pretty much saying he's doing as good as possible.
So we feel very thankful and blessed for my dad to be doing so well. And it's been pretty good. I don't feel like it's been terribly distracting. I haven't tried to put any more pressure on myself, because my dad had gotten sick or anything like that. My parents still enjoy coming to watch me play. I still enjoy trying to go play well.
And it's kind of weird. It hasn't been that bad a situation.

Q. Has that changed your perspective of the game or of life?
JONATHAN BYRD: I don't see how it can't, you know? You feel like your parents are going to live forever. And then something like that happens and you realize that's not true. It's just kind of a sucky part of life, that's the best way of saying it, just with your parents, to realize they're not going to be around forever.
But, yeah, it's changed my perspective. Golf still becomes too important sometimes and the score you shoot becomes too important sometimes; but when you start thinking about that, it kind of brings things into perspective and golf becomes less and less important. It becomes just what I do, not who I am.

Q. You said you have a lot of great memories of this tournament, not just last year, but all the years you've won it. How different is it coming back here today and some of the memories you have right now and some of the other years you returned here after having a good round or a good weekend?
JONATHAN BYRD: This is extra special. I think coming to a media day is a great thing to do. I'd love to do it six, seven times a year. (Laughter).
I don't know how Tiger, I don't know how he deals with all the good things that happen on a golf course, how he scrolls through them in his mind. I feel like I try to feed off the tournaments I win and the good golf I play. And this is obviously one that I think about all the time to motivate myself.
Clair and I were walking from the parking lot here and Clair was walking straight towards the front door. I mean there's no ropes or anything. And I cut to the left. And that's where we usually walk as players. (Laughter) and there's no media. There's nothing. And it was just like instinct. I started walking where I usually walk as a player.
So it's just weird things. Always enjoy going into the locker room seeing the guys downstairs. Everything about this tournament I have good vibes, whether I had won last year or not. I just enjoy coming here.

Q. Can you talk more about your reaction when you found out about that jet service and really what kind of influence it's had on guys on TOUR in committing to this event?
JONATHAN BYRD: I think it's just an awesome service to provide to the players. I think guys, a lot of guys like playing the week before a Major, but guys like getting to the British early because they could lose their luggage or something bad could happen. It's a difficult trip.
So I think you get the best of both worlds with this new flight over to the British. You get to play the week before. So your game stays sharp. But you also get to get over quickly. You get there at 8:00 a.m. on Monday morning. I can't think of a better way to get over there than that.
And it sounds like we're riding in style, from what Clair was telling us. Sounds like we have an awesome plane that's going to be more than just a flight. It's going to be a great experience from a camaraderie standpoint for the players and the families and caddies to get to go over there all as a group. The tournament always provided bus trip from the Western over. I can think of some great memories on that bus trip just hanging out with other players, something you don't always get to do because you're always traveling separately.
Now we're upgrading to a 767, pretty awesome plane. So it should be a lot of fun.

Q. A lot was made about a year ago that you and Ben Curtis and Charles Howell with only 20 something Americans with multiple victories. You had a run of 20 something champions, has that tide turned a little bit? Do you think that what seemed like kind of a closed gate is opening a little bit for the young kids?
JONATHAN BYRD: I think it's opening up some. I think you've seen some great champions lately with, I played with Ryuji Imada, we're about the same age, played college golf together. It's great to see him play the way he did yesterday and win that tournament. And then you have seen Anthony Kim win, play some fantastic golf. I mean I can't think in my mind right now the guys who have won this year. But I think some of the other guys are gaining some confidence. You're starting to see some more guys win that are younger.
I think that's a trend that's going to continue to improve. Tiger doesn't play a ton of tournaments. So that opens up some other events for guys to win, because he's obviously amazing. And he's going to win a lot of tournaments.
And I think you're going to continue to see young guys play well and win more tournaments.

Q. Why do you think that didn't happen sooner?
JONATHAN BYRD: With?

Q. With the young players stepping up.
JONATHAN BYRD: It's hard. I mean Tiger makes it look easy. It's frustrating for us but he does. I was talking to Clair this morning about how much experience he -- like I was grateful for this past week. I didn't win. I felt like I should have won in Atlanta. But I didn't. But I'm grateful for the experience. Because I know that will help me the next time. And we were just talking about the amount of experience Tiger has, just I mean how many times -- he's played more in the last group of major than I have played in the last group ever.
That's an amazing experience to take with you that helps you the next time you get in that situation. If it's anything, it's unfamiliar territory when you get in that environment and you don't always know how you're going to respond.
And I'm always trying to get added experience and see what I can do in a tough environment, something I don't feel -- I don't want to be in that environment where I don't feel comfortable.

Q. Your payday yesterday I believe was like $274,000.
JONATHAN BYRD: That's nice (Laughter).

Q. I know you topped that on three occasions, but $274,000 for a weekend's work, does it ever strike you as bizarre or surreal?
JONATHAN BYRD: It's bizarre. It just doesn't seem fair, does it, for playing golf? I think Clair was saying about Camilo Villegas getting his first check here. And I just smiled when he said that, because I mean I just have fond memories of my first professional check, when I qualified for the Michelob championship. I think I made 35,000, made the cut.
And that was a big check. Yesterday, I mean, it just seems surreal. I mean my brother's an assistant golf coach at Clemson. We were joking on the phone last night. He was joking about he wanted to borrow some money. (Laughter) But there's a lot of great jobs out there that don't pay like our job.
And I feel very blessed and lucky that I have a well-paying job and it doesn't seem right sometimes. But I'm just grateful. It's just a lot of fun to be able to go play golf and get paid the way we do. But I eagled the last hole yesterday, came to the last hole, hit a great 3-iron on the green and made a 40-footer to go from T6 to fourth alone. My sister-in-law texted me last night and said that putt was worth $99,000 (laughter).
So I've had plenty of holes where I've bogeyed the last hole and it's cost me a bunch, too. So it's nice to finish strong yesterday.

Q. I don't know how much you get to see it when you're here, but going to different events and seeing guys play in their hometown or home state, can you describe the reception that Zach Johnson gets when he comes back here and maybe compare it to other places?
JONATHAN BYRD: Man, it was awesome playing with Zach last year the first two days. It was all about buddy pairing getting to play with Zach and Lucas Glover the first two days. We had a great time. I really felt like an afterthought last year playing in that group.
I felt like I was playing with Tiger in a sense with all the commotion and everybody so excited for him to be here and to play, being a Masters Champion. And I think not just here, I think Zach Johnson is -- I mean people love Zach Johnson. He's one of my best friends on TOUR. I love him for the same reason that you guys do. He's real. He's unassuming. He doesn't act like he's a Masters Champion. And he's just a great guy to be around.
And you all should be proud to have him here. And I think it's great that he continues to play this event and continues to support you guys. And he tells Clair this is his fifth Major. And we were joking this year about tournaments, you really want to win before your career's over. And other than some Majors, with the Masters included, I told him Hilton Head, because I grew up in South Carolina. That was a big tournament for me. And for him it was all about the John Deere Classic. He wants to win this more than anything.
So I just think it's awesome that he plays in this and that he supports this tournament and he's great for the tournament. He certainly draws a crowd.
CLAIR PETERSON: Thanks, Jonathan.

End of FastScripts

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